Homeowners and the like typically collect and retain their refuse in so-called garbage cans which they then place beside the streets adjacent their homes, so that the refuse can be picked up by a private or governmental agency enpowered to remove it from the community. The agency, in turn, employs one or more men who are equipped with a large truck for collecting and removing the refuse. The men drive the truck along the streets of the community and collect the refuse from home to home. Meanwhile, to coordinate the matter, each homeowner is instructed to place his can at a location on the street, or a curbside thereof, where the driver or his helper can readily lift the can, dump it into the truck, and then return it to the site for the homeowner to recover. He is also instructed that the can itself must be adapted so that it can be hoisted by the driver or his helper to approximately chest-height, or higher, since the truckbed is commonly elevated above the site where the homeowner places the can.
The present invention relates to a device for aiding in this process, and particularly the steps of transporting the can to and from the pick-up site, and dumping the refuse in the truck from the can. The device may be employed solely by the truck driver or his helper, or it may be employed in part by the homeowner and in part by the driver or his helper. Commonly, the device is employed by both, first by the homeowner to collect and transport the refuse to the pick-up site, and then by the truck driver or his helper to raise and dump the refuse in their truck.
Hand trucks have been disclosed which were adapted to enable the homeowner to move the can from one site to another on a pair of wheels. However, in each case the hand truck required that it be detached from the can, or vice versa, before the can could be lifted for dumping into the truck. Moreover, the hand truck made no provision for its use on stairs where the wheels often rendered the can unstable in going over the edge of the steps.